For the Spring Festival it is usual for Shanghai to have an organised firework display to be viewed from the Bund but because of the tragic death of 36 people on 31st December 2014, the firework display for 2015 Chinese New Year were cancelled. It is now a week since the beginning of the Festival and yesterday the trains were packed with people and their suitcases returning via the domestic Hongqiao airport a few stops further down our Metro line, line 10. And now today everyone is going back to work after a whole week off. But the fire crackers and fireworks continue because when the offices are opened they too need their own loud bangs and cracks to keep the evil spirits at bay. So the noise continues. But we did go down to The Bund on the first day of Richard's holiday for a proper look at the place in daylight.
- The Pudong Shanghai
The Bund is a wide road and promenade along the western bank of the Huangpu river. Looking east to the other bank is THE classic view of Shanghai. Well, the modern one at least. This is the Pudong district of the city and was mainly farmland and warehouses until 1993. The pink-balled construction is the Oriental Pearl Tower, the spiky one is the Jin Mao Building, The Shanghai World Financial Centre is the one with a carry handle and the twisted Shanghai Tower is currently the tallest one in China (565.6m). They don't hang around with their construction projects here. For example we have seen a whole circular walk-way that goes completely around a busy intersection go up in the month we have been in the country.
But until all the modern stuff was started 20 odd years ago, THE classic view of Shanghai was in completely the opposite direction; the view of the West Bank of the Huangpu river. Here stand the large edifices of Art Deco Shanghai stretching for over a mile along the Zhongshan East No. 1 Road named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen's most popular Chinese name. And in front of them is a wide promenade and it was I believe in the bottlenecks between the road and promenade that the 36, mainly young women, died on New Year's Eve.
- From the south Bund looking north
- The South Bund Waldorf Astoria on far right
Most of the buildings are noteworthy:
- The Bank of China
- Fairmont Peace Hotel
This on the left was built in the 1940s by H H Kung, one of Soong Qingling's brothers-in-law, next door to and to rival that put up by Sir Victor Sassoon in 1930 as the Cathay Hotel now known as the Fairmont Peace Hotel. The plan was for it to be the tallest building in China. It failed by to beat its rival next door by one metre.
- Former HQ Jardine Matheson
There is also the former HQ of Jardine Matheson, the former tea-cum-opium traders who went onto become one of the biggest trading houses in Shanghai and in Hong Kong. It was the first foreign company to erect a building on the Bund and did so in 1851. Jardine Matheson left mainland China in 1954, retreating to Hong Kong, as business under communist rule became increasingly difficult. It now operates worldwide, but does still own and operate the cross harbour Star Ferry boats in Hong Kong. Meanwhile this building has become home to the House of Roosevelt, China's largest wine cellar and bar.
- Chartered Bank Building (L) Former Palace Hotel (R)
The former Chartered Bank building was also remodelled in 2004 as an entertainment complex known as Bund 18, with the Bar Rouge on the top floor. The former Palace Hotel on the right was where Dr Sun Yat-sen held a victory celebration in 1911. It is now the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, run by the watchmakers and a home to an art gallery besides.
- The Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (L) Customs House (R)
The Customs House was rebuilt in 1921 - 1927 on the site of the 1857 original. An extremely important building - it was trade after all that Jardine Matheson was interested in - it houses a bell known as Big Ching. Modelled on Big Ben it was replaced during the Cultural Revolution by loud speakers relaying revolutionary songs. The building on the left was the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC now headquartered in London). When it was built in 1923 it was the second largest bank in the world and known as "the finest building east of Suez"
- Former Bank of Taiwan (L) North China Daily News Building (R)
The North China Daily news was published from the right hand building. The main english language Chinese newspaper from 1864 - 1951 it was known as The Old Lady of the Bund. It's motto "Journalism, Art, Science, Literature, Commerce, Truth, Printing" is etched over the ground floor windows. The Communists banned it from printing news in 1949, so apparently the very last issue contained Hittite hieroglyphics and articles abut the philosopher Lao Tzu, whose work has been hailed throughout history (he dates from around 6th-4th Century BC) by various anti-authoritarian movements.
- The Signal Tower at the southern end of The Bund
The Signal Tower was rebuilt in 1907 to replace the original wooden structure that had been constructed by the Jesuits of Shanghai and acted as a meterological relay station. There were 37 Jesuits in China by 1848, there having been members of the order in China for several centuries. They established a study centre for Sinology in the city and drew maps, opened schools and catalogued plants and animals.
The Bund nowadays is home to a number of the flashiest Western places to eat and drink in the city, many with views across the Huangpu River to the Pudong skyscrapers. Apart from afternoon tea at the Waldorf Astoria I have yet to partake of their luxuries.
No comments:
Post a Comment